


100 Themes Challenge

by palladionaigis



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Resurrection, Triggers, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-10
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-04-08 14:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 13,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4309224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/palladionaigis/pseuds/palladionaigis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Both of them have tumultuous years. They fall in love in the early months of 2010. For one of them it started earlier than the other, and after a happy coincidence several years later, they both can get well back on track to patching up their relationship that ended with Minako's death three years ago. Sometimes, Aigis feels as though they have all the time in the world, and sometimes Minako thinks maybe their time is running out. Together they live their adventures throughout the years, at the end they reflect on the lives they lived, and eventually reach their ultimate ends. The second time around, Minako is not afraid of death. All is well and there is a happy ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> The cover image for this work can be found [here](http://40.media.tumblr.com/dedd6e0e8334fc7aaeea3879e40ae8ea/tumblr_ntstoo6w6k1u8vkngo2_1280.png).
> 
> This is a challenge a long time in the making with an unappreciated and grossly unpopular ship. A lot of headcanons, patching up some plotholes, and just me trying to add a little to the ship itself on the literary side, since I can't draw for the life of me. I'll add the individual tags before the fic starts in the beginning, so I hope I can shed a little light on every piece. They will range anywhere from drabble to oneshot length, if not longer. The next chapter in the challenge will be posted as soon as the commission of the cover piece is completed.
> 
> Things will be solidly explained in the last piece, "Endings". But if you have any outstanding questions feel free to ask, I'll do the best I can to explain things without spoiling anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which meeting Aigis for the first time is always a little awkward.**  
>  PG  
> #canon timeline || #post-canon || #post-resurrection || #mentions of sees || #p3wm timeline || #done in the style of the musical || #hamugis100challenge

All of SEES was fairly aware that of all the moment’s they’d had with Aigis, the introduction she made was the strangest. Seeing her only to have her disappear until that night and save both Minako and Yukari from what may as well have been certain death made for a solid first impression.

Everyone had come looking for them, concerned, wondering if they were alright (after all, neither of them had their evokers at the time) and they came back to their leader and Yukari safe and sound, though one a little more safe and currently in the arms of a blonde girl (later to be revealed as an android) who had eyes as clear as the sea. Sure, it wasn’t the strangest first impression they’d ever had (Akihiko finding a sobbing Junpei outside a convenience store stole the prize), but it made a few of them double take. The blonde had looked at peace, as if it was the first time in many years that she was calm.

Even now, Aigis was still awkward at introducing herself. She’d introduced herself to Kanji Tatsumi as a transfer student with blue eyes, blonde hair and a gatling cannon, not to mention that back in high school she’d written “human tactical weapon” on her initial report. Everyone she met back then probably thought she was strange, but it never mattered to the one person who was most important.

Minako had never for a second doubted her. Nothing Aigis could have thrown at the girl could have surprised her. After all, human tactical weapon or not, Aigis was just Aigis to Minako. She never expected more, never asked more of her than was fair, and accepted everything she was and was not.

Nowadays, her introduction was more than “7th Generation Anti Shadow Suppression Weapon Aigis”. Now it was just Aigis because she was more than a weapon. She was part of a family, whether that family was SEES or the family she had slowly patched together on her own. She had Labrys, of course, but they were as different as sisters could be, and though she appreciated the blue-haired android’s antics, there was something about the word “family” in context with Minako that made her entire body thrum with happiness.

Introductions and first impressions were important, but what really made them worth it was the thereafter.


	2. Complicated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which, well, Aigis is an android, Minako is a human and things can get a bit strange. The members of SEES reminisce.**  
>  PG, some mentions of triggering subjects.  
> #canon timeline || #post-canon || #post-resurrection || #tw;slight homophobia || #tw;robophilia || #is that even what it’s called? || #hamugis100challenge

Yukari was probably the first who noticed.

Maybe it was because of her propensity as a gossiping schoolgirl, she’s not even afraid to admit she was and still is one, but she saw it as soon as Aigis came back from her repairs. The way those eyes would cloud over whenever she saw their leader, follow her form as she walked by, and the lost puppy kind of body language she’d only seen in movies before. It was reminiscent of a child trailing after their mother. If that child was Oedipus, that is, though Yukari didn’t know if they’d gone that far.

She was the one who first saw Minako being the first to jump over to Aigis’ desk at the end of the day, asking where she wanted to go, what she wanted to do, always putting the other first, even if it meant skipping a meal that night because the android couldn’t really eat. The times her leader would walk home with her arm looped through Aigis’, the both of them spending time together even if it was just at Paulownia mall, at the arcade, at the karaoke box, the two of them were stuck together like glue. But it never mattered to her. In a month’s time, they had to pack all they could in excitement and life experiences just in case they actually didn’t make it.

Junpei didn’t pay attention to it.

If anything it was jealousy on his part. He’d just lost Chidori, and here was his leader flaunting in his face something that he probably would have found hot under any other circumstances a few months ago. Was that even legal? A girl and a Shadow-destroying robot? He wasn’t entirely sure, but it continued to annoy him through the month of January. Just two or three months ago he’d been Minako’s best friend, he’d been the one walking home with her in the afternoons and stopping by Wuck or Hagakure… had they really distanced themselves from each other that much? Sometimes, he’d stare a little too long at the both of them, and then quickly look away if one of them happened to chance a glimpse at the person who was making them feel like they were being watched.

He still kicked butt next to Minako in Tartarus, there was no question about that, but it was brought to his attention that more and more, he was being left behind. Minako seemed to be favoring Aigis, Koromaru and either Akihiko or Mitsuru as her go-to team, perhaps because of how well-balanced she could make any combination of people (he still couldn’t figure out how she had more than one Persona, even just having Trismegistus was exhausting). If her new relationship - if it could be called that - with Aigis was anything for him to ponder about, he didn’t mind it. When she passed him sitting on the couch in the lounge her hand would still linger on his shoulder for a second longer than it should have, her eyes were still particularly warm whenever she looked at him, like she knew what he was feeling, like she wanted to share the warmth of her newfound love. But he didn’t need it.

Honestly, Mitsuru did not question it.

It changed, it was a one day to the next sort of thing, for her leader and Aigis to progress to their sudden level. One day they were going out after school to the shrine together, another day she saw them at the train station, yet another they were sitting close together - closer than usual, that is - in the lounge, and spending long nights fighting in Tartarus. Aigis would protect the leader of SEES every time it was possible for her, but Mitsuru honestly never thought for a second that the same day they were to confront Nyx at the top of the Tower of Demise, there would be a change in dynamic.

There was no change in the way they fought, aside from a fierce mission on Aigis’ part to take every hit Minako was weak to. Then it was splitting up on a floor, just to find the stairs quicker, to when Mitsuru caught up to their leader and the android sharing something she didn’t think she’d ever see. They had obviously just gotten out of a battle, the breeze of a Garudyne still tangible in the air, and Minako had suddenly practically thrown herself at the other girl, and Mitsuru looked away just as she realized their lips were about to touch. It was in the air of politeness, after all. Though no less astounded, she wasn’t going to gripe. After all, there was a good chance they could die tonight, and it was in each member’s own business if they were going to live their last few hours on their own instincts, that was their choice.

Akihiko wondered if it was because of Shinji.

Shinji had been a heartbreak for both of them, and while he knew Minako was closer to him than many of the others, it made him wonder if this was her way of coping with the first man she’d ever loved pale, in a hospital bed, attached to wire upon wire, perhaps never to open his eyes again. His way of coping with Shinji was throwing himself back into his workouts, practically begging Minako to take him with her on their midnight climbs, and he became part of her core team on those long nights. He knew she was hurting, she’d admitted it to him on the several occasions where they’d been alone and talking about the events that transpired on that night early in October. One time she’d flat out burst into tears and he’d done his best to hold her close and console her, knowing it was the only thing he _could_ do.

He was actually happy for her, and he didn’t know if that was strange or not. Three months ago she’d been soaking his shirt with tears and now, he could see there was no more sadness clouding her eyes, no more tears (at least not in front of him), and true, genuine smiles that honestly even made him feel complete. He wondered if she felt the same warmth in her chest when she looked at Aigis as she did when she was with Shinji, for the short time she knew him. Aigis seemed to forgive her completely for what happened the night of the third (after all, the rooms weren’t soundproofed), that was before she understood love and even now in January she didn’t seem to fully comprehend physical attraction. He let it go by unnoticed and pretended not to see the tiny pecks on the cheek Minako would give Aigis after a particularly hard battle.

Fuuka had probably seen and heard more than any of them combined. 

Also, at first, she was also the one who thought it the strangest. After all, an android and a human? Even though Aigis’ AI was advanced enough to give her a heart not unlike one of a human, and on top of it being of the same gender despite Aigis technically not having a gender at all... Her Persona’s ability was to be the all-seeing eye they needed when ascending Tartarus, and though imperative she support them, she was just as important a part of the team as any of the others. Sometimes, she’s honestly glad she stays downstairs because though SEES has learned to shield some thoughts from Fuuka, she can hear what they’re saying, even if it’s a whisper, and some thoughts, if loud enough, do echo back into her mind. Usually, inappropriate gestures or thoughts are the last things on their minds when they’re going about their midnights, but after all, not all members have verbal filters. Which is why she’s the first, even though she can’t seem to wrap her head around most of it, to think it can’t be all bad.

There’s only so much disgust you can have when you hear the sweetest words and the most caring encouragements whispered into an ear that is not your own, knowing those words are not meant for you, and also knowing that they were spoken between two consenting individuals who obviously felt nothing but love for one another. “Thank you for taking that hit for me. Are you sure you’re okay?” is one of the most frequent things she hears, among “I’m really glad you’re here right now, that last one was…” and, most infamously, in their last moments before the final floor when they were splitting up into offensive and defensive groups, while members in opposing groups were sharing their last goodbyes, “Please don’t die.” “I won’t. We’re both strong enough.” “Just don’t leave me, okay?” “I promise.” “I love you.” “And I love you, but you’ve got a habit of being reckless.” That was the moment she thought she’d accepted it.

Ken didn’t understand adults.

Nobody really thought he needed to, and after what had happened with Shinji he’d resolved to try and live out his childhood as normally as was possible for a member of a group that operates in an hour no one else would believe them about. It didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of the changing situation between his teammates. Minako treated him like her own child, fiercely protective of him even though she knew he could hold his own, even in a fight, both of them curled up together on the couch watching cartoon re-runs, taking him out to eat every now and again… it was all normal, but she did smile more. She also spent a lot of time curled up next to Aigis, sometimes practically in the android’s lap, and in the month before the Promised Day they did seem to be spending more and more time together. How Minako fit so much into the short days they still had left, he did not know.

He’d been taught by society that what he was seeing transpire between their leader and the android was wrong, but he didn’t see much of a problem with it. The imminent threat of death was greater than the threat of being cast out by others, and after everything they’d all been through together, why on Earth would they ever let it get to them? Later in his life he’d never understand the glances of hatred and the way that Minako and Aigis had to be so secretive about everything they did. Most people did not ever become as open-minded as he had been, even as a child.

Later on, Shinji would learn not to be jealous. It’d been a month of them being teens, trying to grow up way too fast, and then his subsequent absence that probably was part of it in the first place. Minako probably wouldn’t admit it, but her heartbreak over Shinji left her raw. So much that she thought she’d never be able to love again, but then the gravitational pull between her and Aigis was too great, so strong that she practically fought against it at first only to realize she’d fallen long ago. He would learn that the constant hand-holding, the going to each other for comfort, the outward physical affection between the two, was a base instinct. Minako trusted Aigis not to leave. She trusted that Aigis was going to be her rock to lean on, and knew the comfort that the android could give was far better than the comfort she’d given herself these years. No one else had stood by her those nights where the nightmares would wrack her entire being, only to wake up shaking and in a cold sweat. No one else had held her in the times she needed it most.

None of these things were a problem, at least between the two of them. Minako didn’t care that Aigis was made of metal. She didn’t care that someday she’d grow old and wither, and Aigis would remain young and unchanging. She just cared that for now, there were sparks in her brain when they kissed, there was comfort in the way they embraced, and there was safety at the notion of Aigis just being there for her. And for now, that was enough, no matter how complicated it seemed.


	3. Making History

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which Mitsuru realizes she’s got something that's nothing short of a miracle.**  
>  PG, I’m still p lame. This one’s a bit sad though.  
> A/N: This is going to be the first time I’m a little vague, because I really don’t know how the two of them work in technical terms, these are just my headcanons.  
> A/N 2: Besides, we haven’t gotten this far yet and even though sentient robots might happen in my lifetime, something like Aigis and Labrys will not. Probably. But hey, a kid can hope.  
> #canon timeline || #post-p4au || #pre-resurrection || #tw;depression || #hamugis100challenge

Both of them were oddly human. And it was always strange to watch. Labrys and her accent. Aigis and her… well, brooding. They all had hard times March 5th. All of them would wake up, spend the better part of their mornings in silence, and then try to go about their day-to-day lives. Occasionally, Mitsuru found herself brewing an extra cup of coffee on the days that held some kind of significance to them. New Year’s Eve. January 31st. March 5th. The days came and went like this, some harder than the rest, and while Labrys found their concerns and quietness worrying, Aigis let it happen.

She too was stuck with those feelings, after all.

The small handful of researchers still left in the Kirijo lab continued to study the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons, finding them more and more human each and every day, both of them advances in science enough to be called making history. The way Labrys would jump if someone approached her out of nowhere without clearing their throat or announcing themselves. The way Aigis often spaced out whenever certain subjects were mentioned… 

Sometimes during the routine lab tests, random pieces of data would be transmitted between them, usually a statistic of weaponry, calibration status of any number of functions, but sometimes Aigis would see flashes of fear in eyes that were in her sister’s memory, watching helplessly as she was forced to slaughter their sibling units. And sometimes, on very rare occasions, Labrys would see visions of the most beautiful smile she’d possibly ever seen, a laugh that sounded like bells chiming from a porch in summer, and a warmth throughout her entire being that made her think, “maybe this is what love really feels like”, and suddenly she’d feel regret pool around her, an empty, hollow void in her chest, the briefest flashes that made her understand why Aigis stared out of the window on long train rides and why sometimes, there’d be tears in her eyes when she woke up, if she even slept.

At first, she’d seemed like all was fine, but as time went on she could gradually see there was bitterness there, and Mitsuru later admitted it was mostly because there was an element of hate Aigis had for herself. Labrys seemed shocked, she’d never noticed it, but Aigis had talked to Yukari years ago after the incidents and because of how close Yukari had been to Mitsuru at the time (she still was), word had eventually passed up the grapevine. She didn’t want Labrys bringing it up and possibly making it harder for Aigis so when the blonde was out she’d sat Labrys down and explained to her exactly what Aigis had been feeling for the past few years, hoping it would clear things up.

Right after it happened, right before she’d gone numb to it, there was clear self-hatred. The usual “Why couldn’t I have saved her” and “Why wasn’t I strong enough” had slowly progressed to, in the past few months, crippling doubt and contradiction to not only try and make humanity see that it wasn’t worth it to have all these negative feelings, but at the same time contributing to it herself because she would live forever with the memory that she couldn’t and didn’t save the one person she loved most in the world.

The truth was, some nights when there was no sleep to be had, Aigis would be on the beach, walking alone, always unseen, hoping that maybe the clock would turn back, the sky would turn green and the water of the sea to the color of blood, and maybe suddenly she’d be able to rescue Minako over again, and this time maybe the embrace wouldn’t be quite as tentative, it would be real this time, but as she’d stand on the pier and look up at the moon, sometimes for hours at a time, until just before dawn, she’d realize no such thing would happen and she’d try to make it back to the house before anyone noticed she was gone. 

“We could arrange for you to talk to someone,” Mitsuru was always offering, but what were they going to tell her? She should take a pill to make her happy? She couldn’t even physically do that, and though there could be at least a temporary solution in maybe telling someone, at least someone Mitsuru arranged because who would believe her about Shadows? About the Dark Hour? Someone that was qualified as a psychiatrist would write it off as vivid hallucinations and put her away. Nobody knew about that she was an android, and outwardly she was human enough. But what kind of solution was talking about it as though she was trying to write it off and forget about it?

Mitsuru Kirijo knew she practically had miracles on her hands. Her father’s and grandfather’s lab had brought these two to life, and she’d directly in some ways nurtured one to where they were now. Labrys and Aigis both were far more emotionally vast and confusing than she ever thought they would be, and sometimes she wondered if it were best to just give up trying to understand them.


	4. Rivalry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which Labrys can’t help but be a little jealous of what Minako and Aigis have.**  
>  PG-13 for a little bit of language, but let’s face it, kids are using way worse language than the bombs I’ll be dropping at 13 in this day and age  
> A/N: I really ship Souji and Yosuke but for the sake of everyone’s sanity I’ll be going with single!Souji because I’m already shoving a lot of stuff that’s not canon up your guys’ noses, and I also find Rise particularly annoying.  
> A/N 2: Also I’m fairly sure this is pretty ooc, but I support the headcanon that Yosuke uses text-speak. It’s super effective.  
> #post-canon || #post-resurrection || #tw;language || #is there a ship name for yosuke and labrys? || #hamugis100challenge

Labrys notices it hardly two weeks after Minako reappears in her sister’s life.

It starts out as a little nagging feeling as she periodically exchanges texts with Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, sometimes Souji as well. A slightly unsettling little thought that something just feels… off. She can’t place where exactly the feeling comes from or if it even belongs in context with what’s been going on the past few weeks, but it’s there, sitting at the edge of her consciousness, festering.

As the rest of the month passes and she slowly starts to feel more of it, she realizes that sometimes the feeling gets bigger when she texts Yosuke who is almost always talking about the trouble he’s getting into in college or at work. Most of all, she realizes it swells to alarming proportions whenever she sees her sister and Minako. It doesn’t matter what they’re doing, and Labrys cares deeply for them both, but when they’re together it makes her circuits burn and she can’t figure out why. She never had a rivalry over anything with Aigis, it was always a very structured give and take for both of them, especially living under the same roof. She brings it up to Yosuke in some of their texts, feeling like he was someone she could talk to, even though he’d noticed her change in mood, unbeknownst to her.

[text] From: yoosk  
[msg] r u sure ur ok? uve seemed p bummed last few days

[text] From: Labrys  
[msg] i guess i’m okay, my sis has a girlfriend now and every time i see them i just get pissed  
[msg] i’m super frustrated because i don’t know why, i just feel like shit  
[msg] i love aigis, she’s my sister, but sometimes when they’re together i just want to leave

[text] From: yoosk  
[msg] sounds like ur jelly to me!

[text] From: Labrys  
[msg] jelly?

[text] From: yoosk  
[msg] jealous, man! im p srs, i think i know cuz i used 2 get the same way w/ kanji and naoto

[text] From: Labrys  
[msg] they’re just goddamn sitting here doing nothing to me  
[msg] they’re just fkin sitting there  
[msg] and i just want to walk out!  
[msg] wtf is wrong with me i’m being terrible about this whole thing  
[msg] i should be happy for aigis i shouldn’t feel like this  
[msg] how do i stop this bullshit yoosk please tell me

[text] From: yoosk  
[msg] id say find a bf but idk if ur up 2 that  
[msg] + im p sure on the island there arnt 2 many dudes  
[msg] hang on

Several moments later, a chat window popped up on the screen of Labrys’ phone.

[yoosk] if n/ebody knows how to deal with jelly its souji. help labrys, partner  
[Souji] Is that why I’m in this chat? What’s wrong, Labrys? Why are you jealous?  
[yoosk] aigis has a gf n shes just mad n wants to walk out even tho theyre not doing n/ething  
[Labrys] i’m just mad at myself, i guess. i should be happy for her, you know?  
[Souji] It’s perfectly fine to be jealous, maybe talk to Aigis and tell her why you’re jealous and ask if they can tone it down?  
[Labrys] that’s the thing they’re not doing anything at all. aigis hasn’t loved anybody else since what happened  
[Labrys] now she’s finally in love again and i’m sitting here wishing she wasn’t  
[yoosk] i told her i got the same way w/ kannao  
[Souji] I remember you repeatedly telling me how much you hated being around them when they started dating.  
[Souji] So I’m well aware.  
[Labrys] i just don’t know what to do and i feel awful  
[Souji] You’re always welcome for a weekend or a week at my place if you need to get away.  
[yoosk] same here!!! :D  
[Labrys] thanks you guys, i still feel bad though and now getting away doesn’t sound too bad

At the first chance she received, and an okay from both parties, she arranged a visit back to Inaba for the tail end of the winter holiday. She’d just been there not a month or so before, but after hearing the circumstances, the members of the Investigation Team welcomed her back into their circle. Kanji and Naoto understood perhaps the best, but she didn’t feel the same jealousy or rivalry with them since they’d just always been that way, that was how they were when she met them, and it just never seemed like a problem.

“The easiest way I’ve learned to combat jealousy,” Yukiko began over a hot cup of coffee at the Junes food court, “is to find out what exactly about the situation sets it off. If it’s their presence in general it’s kind of tricky, but maybe it’s something specific, too. Like how I was always jealous of Chie, and I never knew it was because it was her free spirit until my Shadow forced me to stare that jealousy in the face.”

“At first I thought it was ‘cuz Aigis wasn’t payin’ as much attention to me as before, but I was wrong. I never minded, Aigis had a lotta stuff to do ‘cuz of the Shadow Operatives an’ all. I’m still a part of ‘em, but there was this weird feelin’ I got that we’re our own separate people, we can handle ourselves fine without gettin’ in each other’s ways.” Labrys rested her chin in her hands. “Now that she’s got this girl with her it’s a whole other side I never got to see, and maybe it’s ‘cuz they’re so in love it just makes me sick. An’ I feel terrible sayin’ it like that…”

“It’s really a natural thing,” Naoto finally spoke from her spot between Teddie and Kanji. “As Yosuke said, he used to be jealous of Kanji and I, but now it’s something he’s just come to terms with. Maybe time will heal this wound for you, Labrys. After all, you were jealous of us before, and your own Shadow made you aware of this. Part of you hated that we were human and you were not but eventually you came to accept it. Perhaps this will happen with Aigis as well.”

Labrys knows that if she could, she’d sigh at this point. “Yeah, I guess you’re right… I just hope it happens sooner rather than later. I’m sick of havin’ this anger just stickin’ around all the time…”


	5. Unbreakable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which, between Minako’s constant pressure to keep herself perfect and Aigis’ literal abs of steel, neither of them break down much.**  
>  PG-13 for some language.  
> A/N: That line from the PQ destined partners quiz had to be used. It was begging it of me.  
> #canon-timeline || #mentions of sees || #mentions of tartarus || #tw;suicidal thoughts || #tw; slight language || #hamugis100challenge

“If I cannot be perfect, I cannot be a leader.”

This what Minako used to think. All the time, in fact, until Yukari had told her that being perfect, not having flaws, was not a leader - it was a liar. The month of December had rattled nerves for all of them and tugged at strings that pushed all of SEES apart, and then they all spent New Years’ Eve after Ryoji’s visit trying to reconnect. January was tougher, at least on Minako. 

It didn’t take a human to tell that Minako was putting up a tough face for everyone, both on the nights they trained at Tartarus (most nights) and on the days they continued to attend school. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t seem to shake the feeling of impending dread that soon, things were going to end. And they would either end quickly, or slowly… painfully. Junpei was one of the first to notice she was losing sleep. The dark circles under her eyes slowly got bigger as the month went on, and then Yukari began to catch slower reaction times, how she was getting hit in Tartarus with easily-dodgeable swipes from Shadows who seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. Mitsuru saw the sluggish way she’d walk up the stairs at the end of the night after coming home from dinner with Ken or taking Koro-chan for a walk. Soon, everyone in the dorm knew.

One night in particular, Junpei invited everyone in the dorm to join him at Hagakure for dinner, and while Akihiko had previous plans and wouldn’t be back till late and Fuuka had already wanted to go out somewhere with Natsuki, everyone agreed happily. Except Minako. She’d told Junpei she had already slated that day for studying, and while he called her out on hitting the books when she was already so smart, she just smiled and he recognized the look in her eyes. The look he’d given her when he just had wanted to be alone, and she never questioned it. So he dropped the issue and got up to collect Mitsuru from upstairs so they could all walk there together.

“Junpei-san,” a voice said from behind him as he walked away, and he turned knowing he’d find Aigis, “I… think I shall stay home as well. I cannot eat, so…” he could see the way she turned her head to look at Minako, deep worry settling in her features. She stepped closer to him as Minako gathered her things, too lost in putting her books in her bag to hear her words. “I’m… worried. I’d like to ensure she’s alright.”

“You do that, Ai-chan. Take care of her, okay?”

And she nodded, thanking him as he walked out. “Minako-san, let’s walk home together.”

“Aigis, you know you can drop the -san, it’s not weird anymore.” Though her smile was playful, Aigis did not miss the way the curl of her lips did not match with her eyes, which were still clouded over. She stood, and Aigis offered her arm. Indeed, no one thought it was weird for the two transfer students to become close, even like this - Minako with her hand looped in the crook of Aigis’ elbow. In truth, the android couldn’t be happier. The walk to the station was spent in this state of physical closeness, and on the train ride back, Minako was contented by being able to lean her face into Aigis’ shoulder. “Comfortable,” was all she said when asked why in a hushed, smitten voice.

They walked back to the dorm, Minako’s hand itching to take Aigis’ hand in her own, but that might be crossing a line or bordering on weird, even for two people who spent almost every night of the week defending themselves from death at the hands of beings no one else was aware of outside of SEES. 

It seemed almost habitual, the way Minako kicked off her shoes by the couch, ditching her jacket and bag in the same spot and moving to the kitchen to make herself something to eat. She wasn’t really hungry, but she needed something in her stomach just for the comforting weight that would settle there once she was finished. Plus, if she didn’t eat right, it’d hurt her body and she needed to be in top condition to protect her team. Aigis watched her, though from a distance, and saw how she stilled as she waited for the boiling water to cook the noodles.

“Is there… anything you want to talk about, Minako?”

“Not really, no. I just want some ramen, I guess.” Months ago she’d have been standing beside Shinji doing the exact same thing but with better food and a brighter smile. It made Aigis jealous, and these thoughts were troublesome at best. She stepped forward and embraced the brown-haired girl, for real this time, guiding the girl’s arms up around her shoulders so she could lean there comfortably. She didn’t protest, so the android thought of this as a surefire sign that it was okay. “Aigis?”

“I’m sorry. I’m worried about you. You’ve been so… down the past few days, weeks even… and I just want to make sure you’re alright. Please, don’t hesitate to talk to me if you need to talk.”

Minako distracted herself from the invitation by pecking a kiss to the blonde’s cheek and checking on her ramen. “I’m fine. After all, we’re all a little stressed by everything, so…” She paused, adding the flavor packet to the cup. “I haven’t been getting much sleep either, now that you mention it, but… it’s hard to sleep. I have nightmares.” She grabbed a pair of chopsticks from a drawer and pushed it closed with her hip. Aigis followed her back to the couch. “It’s alright, though. I think we’re all still a little shaken up.”

While this wasn’t a lie, everyone else had talked about their concerns, raised questions, gotten answers, been happy with things and with the decision they made. And since Aigis didn’t know what an emotional breakdown was, she had no idea what to do with what came next. As soon as Minako finished her ramen (or most of it), she stared at the TV before opening her mouth to speak.

“I… must be a bad leader, huh? Acting like this.”

“No, Minako, you’re not.” It was a simple statement but seemed to set her off.

“I feel fucking terrible, Aigis.” It was not like Minako to use language like that, so something was definitely wrong here. “I keep thinking about how it’s all my fault, I didn’t know, because of me you’re all going to die or forget or god only knows what and I want to jump off the roof of the dorm when I think about all this! Maybe it’d just end it, maybe Death - Ryoji - Nyx, whatever, will go with me if I die, but that’s not fucking fair to any of you, how could I think that… I…” Tears were beginning to well in her eyes and Aigis did not like the way she was sniffling. It was the calm before the storm, because several more choice words were said before Minako was sobbing next to her, hands covering her face as her body shook.

Aigis sat, stunned, for several moments before she moved to embrace the shaking girl, making soft shushing noises in an effort to try and comfort her. “Minako, you are so strong… you don’t have to be perfect, Yukari has told you that, and she is right. Everyone agreed with her. You wouldn’t be a leader if you were perfect all the time, that would be lying through your teeth to our faces.” Minako’s tears were soaking the collar of her uniform but she paid it no mind. Something like this showed trust between them, didn’t it? She always acted so strong, so unbreakable, but seeing her like this…

All Aigis could do was sit and suffer with her.


	6. Obsession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which Minako is definitely still a bottomless pit.**  
>  G, this is actually kind of just a silly gateway into what might be potentially serious stuff.  
> A/N: Inspired by real-life events. I had pizza tonight.  
> A/N 2: Could take place after prompt number four.  
> #post-canon || #post-resurrection || #tw; pizza || #hamugis100challenge

It was almost ten o’clock. The kitchen light was on.

There were no maids bustling about, the lab was silent (which was actually unusual given that Labrys didn’t sleep as much as Aigis did), and this was probably why Aigis was so curious as to why there was giggling coming from the downstairs kitchen. She could hear the low hum of the refrigerator and the tapping noise the oven would occasionally make when it was on, and… wait, was that Labrys?

She made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen, wondering what exactly was going on. She was slightly surprised to see her sister and Minako sitting on the kitchen floor, facing each other and talking. They hadn’t noticed her yet, so she utilized the time to listen to what they were talking about, just out of curiosity’s sake, and found them laughing with each other while talking about… well, her.

“Ya know, all things considered… I’m pretty happy you’re back. She needed ya.” Labrys was saying, and Minako reached to take the blue-haired android’s hand. 

“I know it was… a little tough for you for a while. I’ve seen that look on people before. Actually to be fair, I saw it from Junpei back when… back when Shinji and I were skirting around admitting we had a crush on each other, because he liked Chidori and technically back then it was some kind of wrong to be with her, as far as Mitsuru-senpai was concerned, but… I’m really sorry I made you feel like that.”

“Nah, it wasn’t really you.” Labrys wasn’t at all uncomfortable with Minako holding her hand like this. It felt rather reassuring. “She was… always so upset when she thought about what happened and what you two kinda had back then, an’ when Mitsuru-san told me about how she lost ya… I guess I can kinda understand why she looks at ya the way she does, when she thinks you won’t notice.”

“The way she looks at me?”

Labrys smiled fondly. She actually knew something Minako didn’t. “Yeah. The way her eyes light up, like she’s never seen anythin’ more beautiful. She looks like a blind man seein’ the sun for the first time. And she smiles, just a little one though, but it just… man, maybe that’s why I was so jealous.”

“I knew you were jealous, but… believe me, I… I’ve felt it too.” Minako paused for a while. “After Shinji got shot, I was so jealous of Junpei, the way he looked at Chidori, the way he looked when he talked about her, everything. And I realized that Shinji and I never had much of a relationship. Sure, we went out to eat some nights and others we walked Koro-chan together, and we spent one night together, but after October 4th I just realized that… that night we spent together was from me being so scared to lose him, because every previous time in my life I’d fallen for someone, they were ripped away from me. Whether it was from me moving again or them realizing I wasn’t worth it in the end…” She sighed. “But Aigis changed all that.”

“Really?”

“Yes. When I thought I could never really love someone, she was there. She… made me feel like I was worth it.”

“That’s because you are,” Aigis finally cut in. “Now, want to tell me what the two of you are doing down here on the kitchen floor?” She sat down next to Minako, looking at the oven.

“Pizza. I came downstairs to eat something, found pizza in the freezer and sat down with my phone waiting for the oven to heat. And then Labrys sat down so we started talking.” And she smiled brilliantly.

“You really do love food.”

“I’m practically obsessed with food, Aigis.”

“You always have been, at least for as long as I can remember.”

Labrys looked towards the oven and watched as the cheese on the pizza melted. “What’s pizza taste like anyway?” She looked at Minako who put a hand to her chin in thought.

“Cheesy. Salty. Lots of tomatoes, sometimes it’s spicy if there’s pepperoni.”

“I don’t know what any of that actually tastes like, but it sounds good,” Labrys looked back at her sister and Minako. “Well, uh… I’m gonna get some sleep,” she began to stand and looked back at Minako. “Sorry about the whole jealous thing, by the way. Was dumb of me.”

“Don’t worry, I understand. I’m glad we got the chance to talk, Labrys.”

“Yeah, me too.” When Labrys disappeared up the stairs, Minako leaned her head on Aigis’ shoulder.

“So, you two were just talking?” Aigis asked, and she felt a nod coming from Minako.

“Yeah. I think it was good for us to talk. We needed it, so that we could kind of get certain things out. I know she texted with Yosuke-kun and the rest of the Inaba group. Souji-kun was concerned about her and let me know since it had to do with us. It’s no wonder she’s been avoiding me. Avoiding us,” she corrected, and Aigis made a noise akin to a sigh. “I know she says she accepted herself, that she isn’t human, but I can tell there’s still some doubt. I still feel doubt, even to this day, but I guess I’ve just gotten good at pushing it down.” She quieted and felt Orpheus shift in the back of her mind. “It just shows how human you two really are.” She turned to Aigis and smiled before her gaze traveled past the blonde and towards the oven. Suddenly she was on her feet, rushing to open the oven while slipping on the mitts.

“Everything alright?” Aigis immediately asked, moving to help.

“Yeah, yeah, the edges were starting to burn.”

Minako began to laugh, holding up the pizza which, true to her word, had a slightly burnt crust, and suddenly, both of them were giggling.


	7. Eternity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which Aigis contemplates immortality as her senior year of high school begins.**  
>  PG, this one’s short, but longer ones are on the horizon, I promise.  
> A/N: I'm getting better at regular updates! Be proud of me ;u;  
> #canon-timeline || #takes place right after the Answer || #hamugis100challenge

Yukari was beside her on her left, Junpei to her right. The both of them unchanging presences that had been in her life the past few weeks, something Aigis desperately needed. Fuuka was in their class this year. Miss Toriumi had admitted to them that Minako would have been, too. She’d been put in the seating plan, too, and her Student ID was still in their system. They still had her files.

Aigis was sure that at a moment like this she’d be picking at her nails if she had any. On this day a year ago, Minako had joined them for the same ceremony, and Yukari was remembering. She could tell by the way her brown eyes were glazed over, her expression distant. Junpei on the other hand was actually trying to pay attention. Someone from class 2-E was student council president this year. For several seconds he’d thought, “good for her,” until he realized how well the position would suit Minako, a natural-born leader.

This was her first time experiencing all this. Mitsuru would have given this speech last year, surely a better one, but it didn’t matter at this specific moment. The events of the 31st were still weighing heavily on all of their minds. The move to the new dorm had been stressful at best, she and Yukari were roommates now, and their newfound trust was wonderful without a doubt, but Aigis couldn’t help but wonder how amazing life would have been being roommates with Minako. All the cliche things she’d learned about could have been shared between them. Helping with homework, giggling to each other after lights out, staying up during power outages, even just talking for hours during the daytime when they didn’t have school.

Aigis had a long time to think about all these things, practically an eternity compared to the rest of them. She’d never wrinkle, grow old, decline in mental state, nothing like that. Eventually, she figured, she’d just be expanded upon until something better was created and then she’d be ignored for the rest of her days and fall into disrepair, kept on only by the thoughts that maybe, just maybe, when her internal processor burnt out, that she’d see that smile again...


	8. Gateway

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which Metis tries to get her to move on, but Aigis doesn’t think she can, or ever will.**  
>  PG, takes place after prompt 65.  
> A/N: I don’t know where I wanted to go with this one. Also, it’s kind of short.  
> A/N 2: I’m relying on this one to be the second to last really angsty one, chances are the next one is going to be worse.  
> #canon-timeline || #takes place during the Answer || #tw; nightmares || #tw; implied injuries || #hamugis100challenge

“Here,” Aigis said softly, handing several bandages and antibacterial ointment to Akihiko, who nodded and thanked her. Those were for him and Mitsuru. She made the rounds, giving some gauze and tape to Ken, then disinfectant spray to Junpei. Koromaru was resting as they all needed to, for at least an hour after that last battle. They were in no hurry after all, the Abyss of Time was still there and not in a rush to disappear. They knew they were getting closer. They were still following that figure…

“Are you okay?” Metis asked from next to where Aigis was changing the gun on her arm.

“I’m fine,” Aigis said and looked back at the metal, clipping and unclipping different parts, trying to get it to weigh what she wanted it to weigh, re-fastening the metal, then loading the bullets. “Why?”

“You never told me who that figure was, or why you got so creeped out by it. You looked really… hurt. Panicked. Like you knew, but there’s no life down there besides us. I told you that, and… you need to move on, if you keep thinking like this…”

“That’s enough, Metis. I know.” Aigis cut her off, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her synaptic circuits.

“But then why…”

“I got my hopes up. Please, stop. It’s nothing. I was dumb.” She went back to working on her weapon and Metis continued to stare at her despite the curt response.

“The Abyss… if it’s true that maybe our subconscious desires or our memories have something to do with this place, then…”

“Metis, I’m serious.” This time Aigis sounded even colder. “I know you’re trying to look out for me, but this is not the time. I am not going to talk about this right now. I need to focus on keeping my friends alive.” Her anger was not supposed to burn her like this. She took a moment to compose herself. Metis looked hurt. “I’m sorry, I just… it’s only been a few weeks. I’m not over it yet. Please, just give me time.” She sat back on the couch, and looked towards Fuuka.

“They’re still tired,” the petite girl said and Aigis nodded.

“I’m going to try and rest. Just wake me when everyone is ready to go.” And the girl nodded, so Aigis leaned back and closed her eyes. The exhaustion had crept up on her far faster than she would have liked, her dreams laden with the same things she’d been seeing for the past few weeks. Cinnamon locks splayed over a pillow, the sound of a trill sort of giggle, and running after her, trying to catch her, desperately, yet no matter how fast she ran, she could never make it, and slowly Minako was slipping away like trying to catch smoke with her hands, grains of sand slipping through her fingers, like she could hear the girl calling her name.

“Aigis!” And suddenly the blonde android was being shaken awake, red eyes in her field of vision. For a moment she could have sworn her entire being leapt but then things stopped being blurred and she realized the black hair and pale skin meant it was just Metis. Surely there were tears, but she tried to play it off, choosing instead to lean back.

“What happened?”

“You… started talking in your sleep. Like you were having a nightmare,” Metis replied, and Fuuka was there too suddenly, beside her looking at her with concerned eyes. “Fuuka said I should wake you up.”

“Oh… sorry.” And the knowing look on the teal-haired girl’s face was telling, of course she knew what had been plaguing her dreams, it was no secret. “Is everyone ready to start again?”

“Yeah, it’s been about an hour and a half, and we’re all set. Better-rested.” Fuuka looked around just to confirm her words, and everyone seemed to be grabbing their weapons and gearing up to go again. “Are you feeling a little better?”

“I’ll be alright.” She lied through her teeth, hoping her smile wasn’t as telling. “Let’s get going, shall we?” Though she had no real joy in going back into the labyrinth that was the Abyss, she tried to ignore the feeling that it wouldn’t be the last time she was going to see the figure haunting her dreams and her life now.


	9. Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which it’s March 8th and it’s still fresh, and Aigis wonders if it’s ever going to stop hurting.**  
>  PG-13 to be safe, but it’s really just PG with a healthy serving of heartbreak.  
> A/N: So read at your own risk. It’s a little depressing. Take this one with a grain of salt.  
> A/N 2: I'm going to try to make this the last sad one for a while.  
> A/N 3: Added some vague YukaMitsu, there will be more in the future!  
> #canon-timeline || #yukamitsu if you squint || #tw; sad || #tw; insomnia || #tw; implied character death || #hamugis100challenge

Aigis wakes up and looks at the clock. It’s only been an hour since she last remembers looking at it. If she had to guess, she’s slept maybe 30 minutes, only about an hour total all night. It’s 4:18 AM and any hope for sleep is gone. Every time she closes her eyes all she can see is Minako’s peaceful smile and she feels the girl’s limp weight in her arms as she slips away and… she stops thinking about death. She’s only been sleeping in Minako’s bedroom, as though watching over her spirit. She’s dimly clinging to the hope that she’ll wake up and realize she’s the one that’s been dreaming, but time is too linear, it’s been passing too slowly, the past three days have been a gigantic blur of tears and a sinking weight in her chest…

The sheets, she’s sure, smell like Minako, and while she’s not entirely sure what the girl would smell like (she can’t even smell at all anyways), but she knows that her shampoo is still in the girls’ bathroom and has the words ‘water lily’ on the bottle. No one has moved or touched anything of hers yet. As far as she was concerned, once they started moving things or throwing things out, it would seem too official. Since she wasn’t going to bother trying to get more sleep, she decided to go down to the lounge.

Anyone else would start a pot of coffee, but she didn’t have to, and she couldn’t drink it anyways. Small things like this were becoming painfully obvious to her for the last few days. She could never be like Minako - never be inconvenienced by the needs that a human life promised.

Nobody was scolding Koromaru for being on one of the armchairs - where Minako had napped just days before. Yukari was on one of the couches. Junpei was in the other armchair. Fuuka was at the table, typing quietly. She saw Aigis and tried to give her a reassuring smile, but tears quickly welled up in her eyes and she was forced to look away as they fell so she could catch them with her sleeve.

Aigis didn’t know if the other two inhabitants of the room were awake. Yukari’s eyes were closed but her expression was troubled. Junpei was holding his phone with his hands in his lap, and just when Aigis thought he was asleep, the light of the small screen illuminated his features dimly. He stared at the screen for a while - Aigis remembered his screensaver being a picture he took with Minako in the Print Club game at Game Panic, one she’d filled with stickers when she kissed his cheek in the photo. Another thing Aigis never got to do with her…

She stood in the kitchen doorway for a long time. Some nights after they got back from Tartarus and Minako couldn’t sleep, she’d make a pot of coffee and sit at the table and read or sometimes study to at least do something productive while she stayed up all night. To her surprise, in the dim light of the single lightbulb under the oven hood that was always left on, she realized Ken was standing in the kitchen, leaning against the wall. He too seemed to be staring at the coffee maker. March 4th, it’d last been used. There was still what looked like half a cup sitting in the bottom of the pitcher. A mug beside it - her mug. She’d insisted on them all getting one, even Aigis, and the entire set was still sitting up in the cabinet…

“If… if Aragaki-san was here…” Ken began, tentatively going around calling him Shinjiro-san as he had since before Minako died, and Aigis looked up at the boy. “He’d probably… rinse out the coffee pot and wash out her mug and call her an idiot, and then he’d… It’s the only time I’ve ever saw him cry. Even Sanada-san…” He took in a breath that sounded raspy. He raised an arm to his eyes. He was crying, and Aigis felt a slow burn go through her entire being. Like she knew what to do, she held her arms open as an invitation to him. It was the first time he’d acted his age since they all met him. He was crying in her embrace, and Fuuka was suddenly in the doorway, a worried look on her face as she’d heard Ken’s sudden sobbing, and Aigis could only stand there and rub his shoulder gently. Once she realized what was going on she quickly left, and when Aigis turned her head, even Koromaru hadn’t moved. His head was up, and his nose was twitching. He knew Ken was crying, but even he didn’t have the heart to leave his spot, as though Minako's scent might fade if he did.

Ken apologized after several minutes, his eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks streaked with tears.

“It’s alright,” Aigis murmured, and she stepped back to allow the boy some space. Ken went back to standing by the wall, still staring at the coffee pot. Aigis left the kitchen. She couldn’t look at that lonely mug on the counter anymore. Fuuka’s typing had paused. Her laptop remain open, but presumably, and judging by the open bathroom door, she’d gone to wipe her own tears away. What she’d been typing was an email - to her friend, Natsuki. In the short seconds that the android allowed herself to stare at the screen, she realized Fuuka was writing about what had happened. She probably knew, there had been another funeral, after all, and all the lives Minako had touched… but this was very personal, and Aigis looked away before her friend came back from washing her face.

She sat on the couch opposite Yukari. All of SEES slowly proceeded down to the lounge as well. No words were exchanged.

Mitsuru was first, and she looked more haggard than any of them had ever seen her, and she looked at Yukari who was still just laying there, face contorted in sadness and pain as she dreamt. The redhead grabbed a pillow and gently lifted her kouhai’s head, easing the plush thing underneath, and then sitting at the end of the couch where Yukari’s feet didn’t quite reach. She stared, seemingly at the fibers of the carpet. Junpei was still awake, and seemed to try and perk up when Ken sat in front of the recliner Koromaru was sitting in. Fuuka joined Aigis on the couch. Akihiko, inevitably, was last around 5:30 AM or so, and he too sat next to Aigis. He’d been slacking on his training. No one had really gotten any sleep the past few days. A few minutes after Akihiko had joined them, Yukari began to stir, and opted to turn herself around, seeking Mitsuru for comfort out of sheer instinct, and the void she created where her head had once lay was taken by Ken.

Junpei was the first to speak up. “She wouldn’t want this.”

“Wouldn’t want what?” Akihiko answered, more briskly than he’d really intended. He shot Junpei an apologetic glance.

“She wouldn’t want us to sit around not talking to each other and moping around. Yeah, she’s gone, but… she died to protect us.”

“She’s dead, that’s the point,” Ken spat bitterly. His crying episode had obviously hit him hard. He hadn’t cried like that since his mother had passed, and before that, he could hardly remember a time where he needed to let loose his emotions in the way that he did. “It doesn’t change anything.”

“Don’t tarnish her memory, Amada. What Iori said is right. She died for us.” Mitsuru said softly, though the sudden sound of her voice made Yukari, whose face was in the Kirijo heiress’s shoulder, jump.

“She was smiling when she died,” Akihiko mumbled. Aigis nodded slowly from beside him. She knew he was right - after all, she’d held Minako in that moment on the rooftop, carried her back to the dorm despite the onlookers, and held her until finally in the late hours of the night, her breathing slowed until she was finally at peace. They’d all been waiting with bated breath for when it would happen, and when it did, Mitsuru called an ambulance. Though she prohibited them from performing an autopsy, their physical exam revealed that it had just been a slow decrease in brain function, and that she literally had fallen asleep. It’d been a medical mystery but the official cause of death was put down as a long-standing illness that “no one knew about”. 

“We’re all upset,” Yukari said in a small voice, but when she revealed her face, she too was holding back tears. “But Junpei is right… she wouldn’t want this… so… I think until we all start to heal, we just… try and act normal. Try to move on. It’s what she would want.” Even though a consensus was reached between the members of their group, it didn’t numb the hurt that was making all of them ache. It didn’t change that she was gone.


	10. Opportunities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which Minako settles back into life, taking online classes to hopefully work in the Kirijo’s lab.**  
>  PG, I shall give you some happiness!  
> A/N: My apologies for all the sadness in the last few prompts. Sobs  
> A/N 2: Before this part I wanted to do a brief explanation of setting. In the notes that will be on the last prompt, I’ll explain a general timeline of the pieces and major events that happen in the lives of Minako and Aigis, but this prompt takes place a month or so after they move from the lab on Yakushima to their own apartment near the lab that appears in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, where Labrys and officer Kurosawa are chased up the stairs / Kikuno picks Labrys up in a helicopter to get to Inaba. Labrys will go with them, and the lab in Yakushima still exists, but in most of the prompts I don’t state where they are, and if I do it’s always really blunt / stated straight-out where the prompt takes place.  
> #post-canon || #post-resurrection || #robot parts || #tw; robophilia || #hamugis100challenge

“The technicians told you they would teach you everything you want to know,” Aigis mumbled, sitting close beside Minako who had her laptop on the table in front of her, scrolling through a manual on the various parts used to make Evokers, half of her body turned towards Aigis who was letting her inspect the built-in Evoker on her earpiece. This was just the beginning of her research, and besides this she was working on a thesis paper on mechanical engineering which was currently open in a different tab. While she would have loved to write this paper on how Aigis was put together, this was far too advanced and she was saving her girlfriend for her final thesis next year. Her two-year program was being sponsored by the Kirijo lab in return for helping out every once in a while and she was learning quickly which helped her a lot. The opportunity to be able to work alongside Aigis not only as a Persona user but as a technician, helping Fuuka every now and again, was something she was very thankful for.

“I’m learning a lot from them, but I do want some extra expertise. I’m almost done with the second semester, and then I’ll have two weeks’ break. So, come next month, you have me all to yourself.” She turned, a playful grin on her face and Aigis smiled. “What?”

“You look silly.” 

“Me? Silly? Never.” And she moved a piece of wire, seeing the component that showed the level of her spirit, which was illuminated blue and full. Good thing to see. She looked through the manual for several seconds, seeing a visual diagram of the inside of the earpiece and where the actual Evoker component was located, and she used a pair of pliers to move a piece of metal to see if it looked any different from the picture. “It’s a little scratched, almost like it’s worn,” Minako said softly and moved everything back to where it should be. “Why do you suppose that is? It won’t break, will it?”

“No, it won’t break. I’ve had it looked at, and the technicians think it was because I used the Wild Card ability for a while back in 2010. Frequently, that is. But if it does rust, I can get it replaced, though I’m not sure how that’s going to influence the actual ability itself. If it goes away, I’ll be a little saddened, I felt like Orpheus was the one thing of yours I still had, but… now that you’re back, I think I’d be okay with just my own Persona.” She smiled encouragingly as Minako refastened her earpiece and scrolled to the section about Koromaru’s collar. She wished she could tinker with it, too, but chances are that one she could actually break if she wasn’t careful. 

“What do you think they’ll say about me writing a thesis on you and Labrys next year?” She smirked again. “Sentient robots, one of them with axe-wings and the other with a giant gatling cannon?” She set her laptop aside and crawled atop Aigis’ lap, hands resting on the blonde’s shoulders.

“Your teacher might want to know what kind of life you’re actually living, considering you’re probably vastly more secretive than the rest of the students. Do they know anything about your life?”

“Not a lot. They see you when you come to pick me up sometimes when I have exams. They’ve seen me out sometimes, and I’ve gone to a karaoke party or two, but I haven’t told them anything. I can’t really tell them anything, either. I mean, given the two of us.” Minako said but held no shame in her voice. Aigis’ hands were on her waist and she leaned forward to bump their foreheads together. “I don’t regret anything, though.”

“Neither do I,” Aigis whispered, lips against the corner of Minako’s mouth. The girl sighed into the almost-kiss, all too willing for the blonde to continue, to stop teasing her, but Aigis was having far too good a time watching the girl squirm in her grasp. “When you’re done with your schooling, what do you plan on doing? Working at the lab?”

“Yes. Helping Mitsuru. Helping out the Shadow Operatives. I don’t want to be a leader anymore, but I still want to help. Even if it’s just in the background, on the sidelines.” 

"Wouldn't seem right without you, after all."

Minako couldn't help but smile.


	11. 33%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which Aigis pranks them… again.**  
>  PG, nothing to see here  
> A/N: I couldn’t resist after the bit in P3WM: Bismuth Crystals where Aigis like, makes her voice break and then pretends to shut down and then just stands up and is like, “ROBOT JOKE!” And Yukari / Minako were so concerned and Aigis is just like, “I saw it on TV” and is very proud of herself. I laughed myself to sleep.  
> #canon-timeline || #tw; robot jokes || #tw; dial-up noises || #mentions of shinjiro/minako || #concerned mom minako || #hamugis100challenge

Minako settles into the cushions of the lounge couch with a sigh. It’s the first week back after the class trip and everyone is still kind of reeling. It’s not a surprise, though - a lot of things happened in the past few days and everyone is left with their own thoughts since many of them haven’t spoken since the hot springs incident. Her eyes glance over to where Aigis is standing, tinkering with the TV at Ken’s request, then she sits on the same couch as Minako, just down the opposite end. She can only imagine what kind of programs Aigis watches on her own - considering the joke she’d pulled not days before.

The blonde seems sort of on edge, and Minako wonders if it’s because of the whole funny business with Ryoji. Aigis really seems not to like him, and even though she can’t understand why, there’s something about the boy with the scarf that is achingly familiar, almost to the point of painful because she just can’t place where she knows him from, though it’s on the tip of her tongue. She sighs and leans back, closing her eyes.

“The weather’s getting colder,” Ken says offhand, trying to make conversation, and Minako smiles at the boy.

“It is, isn’t it? Soon enough we’ll need more than just jackets to keep warm.” She answers him in a soft voice, and Yukari comes down into the lounge with a flourish, screaming at Junpei who is just behind her, and picking out bits and pieces of their conversation, Minako comes to guess Junpei has eaten Yukari’s food again. They’re all allowed to keep some things in the kitchen - each cabinet is a little area for every member of the dorm, but some of them, namely Junpei, don’t go by the name labels on the wooden shelves. Yukari seems back to her old self, a bit more chipper in the long run, and it relieves all of them. Junpei just sighs, apologising while still defending himself against “the evil Yukaricchi”, as he has lovingly dubbed her.

The mood calms a little and after a little while, Aigis scoots closer to Minako and makes a space for Akihiko, who has now also come downstairs. Yukari is on one of the armchairs, Junpei gets up to make room for Mitsuru on the other armchair and take Koromaru for a walk. Wordlessly, SEES gathers in the lounge and Mitsuru turns the TV up. Their still prevalent disappointment over the Dark Hour having not ended is like an unspoken rule in the air. Minako almost feels like it’s her fault. She’d so readily agreed to be part of SEES, she was in charge of the operations, for crying out loud. Now, she berates herself. She should have seen it sooner. It’s human to think like this.

The news starts reporting on Apathy Syndrome and every single one of them either cringes, sighs, or both. Mitsuru does the honors and shuts the TV off. Akihiko starts perhaps the most random conversation in the history of their dorm, turning to Mitsuru. Soon enough, everyone’s in one conversation or another. Fuuka is talking with Ken about something on her laptop, Junpei comes back with Koromaru and becomes very invested in a talk over which boy Yukari should go after (since there are a multitude chasing her), and Minako remains quiet save for laughing at Akihiko’s very enthusiastic talk about protein shakes. She knows Shinji would complain about him not eating enough vegetables and practically living off of the powder he had bottles upon bottles of in the cabinet, and…

Shinji.

Minako’s chest feels tight suddenly. It’s hardly been a month since his coma had begun. While they’d all been fortunate to get him to the hospital in time, it still remained that he had not shown any improvement. The pocket watch had saved him from the most serious damage, but Minako had been slacking slightly in going to visit him. The class trip had gotten in the way and the day they came home she’d gone to him and told him all about it, all the while holding his hand and hoping he’d open his eyes, but no such luck. Now, she only went every other day or every third day. While Akihiko probably blamed himself the most, Ken’s burden was heavy as well, and she often thought that she had no right to be this upset, she’d only really known Shinji for several months, but… it’d been a whirlwind romance, really. While he hadn’t been her first, he’d been the sweetest, a man with such a rough exterior when in all reality, he was one of the sweetest people she’d ever known.

Next thing she knows, from her side, she hears the most horrible of noises - a grating beep, elongated, and she places immediately what it is. Back in the day when internet was dial-up, that awful tone that played when the computer attempted to connect to the internet, and it was coming from Aigis’ mouth, which was open. She immediately panicked as did the rest of SEES, and she jumped and set her hands on Aigis’ leg. It was like she was stuck in loading, as though she’d gone to speak and the bar had been stuck at 33%, causing her voice to lapse.

“Aigis? Are you okay? Can you hear me?” But the noise just continues and Akihiko stands, hand reflexively curling into a fist. If this was another attempt at hijacking Aigis, they were as good as dead with the weapons she had. “Akihiko-senpai, stay back!” Minako practically shrieks when she saw his fists ready to defend himself and the rest of them. She stands between them and cups the blonde’s face in her hands until the noise stops, abruptly. Aigis looks right at her, and smiles of all things.

“I’ve been successful!” She says enthusiastically. Minako blinks and tilts her head. “The mood seemed rather low, so I decided to play a joke! Fuuka-san was talking about an older computer, and I thought…” She stops when Minako starts laughing. The girl quickly devolves into a state of being unable to control her laughter. She is almost doubled over when Yukari joins in. Soon enough everyone is laughing. Aigis feels strangely triumphant.

“I actually thought you were crashing or something,” Minako laughs and moves forward to hug the blonde. “Please don’t do that to me, I was really worried!” Though her smile and tears in her eyes confuse the android, she nods.

“I am sorry, I didn’t think you’d be so affected.”

“You’re a part of our family, Aigis, of course we’d be worried!” Yukari says with a smile. They all fit together like puzzle pieces, incomplete without everyone. Aigis feels something in her chest that she can only attribute to one emotion - pure joy.


	12. Dead Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which Minako had misconceptions about death.**  
>  PG, kind of angsty again. I’m sorry! D:  
> #canon-timeline || #post-canon || #tw; death mention || #major character death implied || #hamugis100challenge

Dying was actually like falling asleep. Especially when that was how you die in the first place. You hear all these things about near-death experiences and how it’s a bright white light at the end of a long tunnel, but none of that was true. Minako - and probably the rest of SEES, too - had al had one too many near-deaths in their time, but this was just the icing on the cake.

She’d known she was going to die. It was the natural course of things. She’d saved the world at the price of her own life. Seemed a fair trade when all was said and done. She had to admit it, though - dying in the arms of a loved one was possibly the best way to go. The residual feeling of Aigis’ lap supporting her head, those bright blue eyes the last thing she saw, Shinji holding her hand and Akihiko somewhere, she could hear his voice… it was serene.

Really, though, the last thing she heard was Ryoji. His voice was soft, a bit melancholy, but he whispered against her skin when he embraced her as death. “I’m so proud of you.”

Until the night of March 5th she held on with all her might, but eventually, she let whoever was embracing her in her last moments be the witness to her last breath and she let the whiteness take over her vision. Death was calm. Peaceful.

Death was quiet, too. There was no sound, but also no ringing in her ears, no overpowering silence, just a quiet white backdrop, no doors, windows, not even a floor. You just floated, alone, unaware of the passing of time. All the horror stories about purgatory she’d heard living with one of her distant relatives was rendered practically moot. There was only one real Hell, and she and her friends had conquered all 200 plus floors of it and killed the beast at the top. This she considered her greatest achievement, aside from bringing a group of once strangers close enough to consider each other family.

It could have been months or years when she heard the voices of her teammates again. Later, she’d learn that her friends had been transported and had fought the great beast she’d given up her life to keep out. She’d almost forgotten the sound of speech, and for the first time since she’d arrived in the white place, her limbs ached, as though there was something digging into her skin. She’d try to cry out, maybe they could hear her, but she almost knew they couldn’t. “Don’t worry,” Ryoji would tell her without even making a sound. She’d listen and stop thinking.

It could have been millennia when she heard Theo speak to her. It was like she could see his lips moving to form the words she was hearing. She remembered him so well, as if he was right there, but she was dead wrong, no pun intended.

“I promised you, didn’t I?” He asked and she felt the residual heat of his gloved hand on her cheek. “That I would get you out. I’m sorry I did not think of it sooner. You had so much left to accomplish…”

“Theo…” she whispered but he could not hear.

“It was all so simple in the end… I was such a fool. Live, my dear. Love, laugh, follow the dreams I know you had. You have a bright future, and you need to return now to the people who love you. Take this second chance. Just promise me you will not forget me.”

She had a moment of vivid lucidity as she felt Theo kiss her forehead, and then everything went black.


	13. Running Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which, during her brief moments of consciousness in her first few hours after ten years asleep, Aigis chases what seems to be just a dream.**  
>  PG, again, nothing to see here.  
> A/N: I owe you guys a huge apology. Let me explain what's gone down the past few months since I've updated. First, my laptop screen broke, so I paid a huge chunk of money to replace that. Then, I had to wipe my hard drive to reset some of the security parameters on my computer. Needless to say, Google Drive decided to not back up my files, any of them, so I lost literally all the work I had done on this project. I just found some of the hard copies, though some of them are still forever lost, but I'm trying not to let it get to me! I'm going to get back to this challenge, especially now with Anime Boston coming up. I'm super pumped.  
> A/N 2: This one is a bit short, but longer ones are coming up, that I promise!  
> #canon timeline || #yakushima || #hamugis100challenge

The only thing that keeps her aware of the passing of time is her internal clock.

To her own surprise, it's ticked past ten whole years. A decade of change, and she was in disrepair, more or less. Flashes stirred in her mind, and it was as though the wisps of memories themselves were running away from her, dodging her attempts at trying to remember.

What she'd forgotten seemed, in retrospect, like little things. A dark mass in the sky, hovering above a bridge. Eerie green lights. The silhouette of a small child crouching next to the scene of a car accident. Things you might see in some sort of action movie, all floating away into the great abyss that was forgetting. The summer heat was apparent in the lab, or at least, this section. Old parts were stored here, which, to a point, was what she is.

Before she even knows it, she's leaving. There's something invisible wrapped around her, tugging her out the doors and inevitably towards the outside, she hears a small voice pleading to her in the echoes of her empty memories, and the sky is bright blue and not the strange color she was recalling. No clouds to be seen, a refreshing wind passing her by and tugging at the hem of her sundress. Why she's even wearing a garment, she does not know.

She stops at a seemingly well-trodden crossroads in the woods. There is a giant tree nearby, she can tell it's old and sturdy even from a distance. Her advanced hearing picks up footsteps, coming closer and closer, and then a voice, hauntingly ethereal and familiar--

"Yukari? Fuuka?" This voice is calling out, coming near, Aigis braces herself for some sort of attack and then--

Cinnamon locks of hair blow in the wind when the figure finally comes into view. Only a few inches shorter than she herself, if she remembers her height by the technical specs hidden somewhere in the backlog of her systems, this girl is small, curved, though her arms suggest she's more muscular than she gives off. She racks herself, thinking, trying to figure out why that invisible rope is hurling her towards this girl, and then it clicks.

She has to protect her.

That's her priority. She steps forward. The girl notices her. For a moment, she falters, says something to herself, and then runs off, leaving the startled human behind.


	14. Judgment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which Mitsuru probably won’t ever forget this whole situation.**  
>  PG-13 to be safe, honestly, there’s nothing here except for stuff to laugh at.  
> A/N: I was raised in a situation where most of my family was European, and ever since, I’ve become a little more prude, probably due to self esteem issues. Japan is pretty similar to where I spent a lot of my childhood, with the whole communal but gender-separated changing rooms and such, so I couldn’t resist exploring a bit more and picking at my mental version of Mitsuru’s character concept. Though at this point she’s probably a bit more open than previously, she’s still kind of shocked / wasn’t expecting this.  
> A/N 2: The memory part is written in the style of the musical / mention of the movie, as well, because who didn’t think that was hilarious?  
> #canon-timeline mention || #post-canon || #post-resurrection || #tw; nudity mention || #minako has no concept of privacy || #labrys being funny || #hamugis100challenge

It wasn’t the first time Mitsuru had seen Minako naked.

The situation in Kyoto had been quite the laugh, everything from her execution of the boys to Aigis floating underwater, not knowing what to do or how to bathe in a hot spring. “Oh, let her do what she wants,” in Minako’s words. They’d gone through a lot, from ripped shirts and undergarments in Tartarus to quick and necessary wound care, also mostly in Tartarus (aside from that one time Minako was chasing after Koromaru and fell flat on her face).

On the other hand, Labrys and Aigis were both perfectly aware that they didn’t have the parts humans did. For Aigis, many a time it was a painful reminder but also a humbling fact, and for Labrys, well, she thought everything about humans was weird, from eating to hair to skin in general. It was the blue-haired’s own curiosity that led her to ask all sorts of questions about humans, and usually, she asked Minako. Not only did she ask her sister’s girlfriend because they were close, but Minako seemed to be more open with her answers than Mitsuru would be (in fact, Mitsuru usually blushed and only gave vague explanations which did not please Labrys whatsoever).

As such, this is probably why Mitsuru found it so strange to walk into the master bath in her summer home with Minako up on the edge of the tub which was filled with bubbles, shaving her leg and in a deep conversation with Labrys about what sounded like… Mitsuru stopped dead in her tracks. Was Minako giving Labrys the infamous “birds and the bees” talk?

“So you’re tellin’ me that’s… that’s how you were made?”

“For lack of a better term, yeah.” Minako responded. Labrys’ jaw was slightly dropped.

“Sounds like it hurts… a hell of a lot.”

“Well, it does, but they have medicines to help with that. I don’t get the women who do it without anything, though after Tartarus and all that stuff, I’m pretty sure my pain tolerance is higher than it should be for my age.”

Mitsuru cleared her throat and both pairs of ruby eyes snapped up to meet her gaze. “Mitsuru-san?”

“Oh, hey, senpai.” Minako smiled and just continued what she was doing.

“Might I… ahem. Ask… what you are discussing?”

“Well, Labrys asked about, and I quote, ‘why are some people so tiny’, so I felt like I had an obligation, you know?”

“And you did this while bathing?”

“Well, it’s not like Labrys can learn this stuff in school, nobody teaches this stuff. Luckily the time I spent bouncing around in foster care led me to find out a lot of things I don’t think I would have learned here.” Minako clicked her tongue. “As for doing this in the bath, well, I needed to shave and wanted to have a bubble bath, so… killing three birds with one stone.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “Someone has to explain these things to her.” 

“And you thought this situation was appropriate?”

“I don’t really mind,” Labrys interjected, shrugging herself. “I mean, technically, Aigis ’n me walk around naked all the time, right?”

“It’s different, you don’t have…” Mitsuru gestured at herself, first her chest, then her behind.

“Right, those. Yeah, well, makes our lives easier, doesn’t it? ‘Sides, I don’t mind.” The bluenette looked back at Minako, who was rinsing off her leg.

“I’ll… leave you both to it.” Mitsuru walked out, still a bit shocked and perhaps also unnerved.

“Why do ya think she’s so bothered by it?” Labrys voiced in concern, and Minako shrugged, slipping back into the hot water.

“There’s another weird thing about people, more or less people like Mitsuru-senpai. A lot of people view just being naked around people as intimacy, something only your lover should see, and I think Mitsuru is among that part of the population. As for me, well, I mean, I’m sort of used to changing in dressing rooms or locker rooms with a bunch of other girls, so it’s never been a problem to me.”

“And Aigis doesn’t mind ya bein’ around me an’ Mitsuru-san… yanno, naked?”

“Aigis knows that while others may have seen me or look at me, she’s the only one who I’d ever dedicate myself to, the only one I’d let go any further. I think because neither you or her have… you know, the parts, it’s not as serious.” Minako was trying her best to explain in simple, understandable terms. “I don’t want to go calling Mitsuru-senpai prude, she’s less confident in herself than she should be, but she’s warming up to the idea more. At least, I like to think so.”

“Ya… don’t mind me askin’ some more questions, right?”

“Not at all, Labrys. Anything I can explain, I will do my best to explain to you.”

“How… I know Mitsuru-san is with Yukari-san, so… how does that even work?”

“Well, that’s a whole other story.”

Minako spent a long time talking, albeit awkwardly, about more human habits. Labrys? Well, she considered herself educated on more than several matters afterwards. On the phone late that night, Mitsuru recounted the activity in the bathroom to Yukari, who could only laugh.


	15. Seeking Solace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **In which it’s a few days after her first Christmas back, and Minako is having some difficulty settling in.**  
>  PG-13 for some dark elements.  
> A/N: I still have nightmares about bad memories to this day, so I’m pretty sure Minako also might deal with this at first.  
> A/N 2: Hopefully over the next month I’ll have some extra time to bang these out, but I have to get a full time job soon so I might be a little limited in my writing time...  
> #post-canon || #canon-timeline mention || #post-resurrection || #tw; death mention || #tw; nightmares || #major character death implied || #hamugis100challenge

The apartment was pleasantly warm, despite it being frigid outside. This was the coldest it had ever gotten to this day, with the windchill making it even colder than it should have been. Something about the fact alone that she could feel the cold again set Minako on edge. This was taking into account the fact that she was still coming out of the whole dizzy and unconscious stage. Every time she woke up, she felt like she was waking up after a three-week nap. Would she ever stop being so exhausted? She wasn’t sure, but she could believe that maybe it would get better. She wasn’t about to give up hope.

Even more wary of the situation was Aigis. The girl often stood vigil over her when she went to bed, waiting until she fell asleep, and often waking up every hour or every few hours to check if she was still breathing, indeed alive. Minako treasured the comfort she gained from having the android so close to her every moment. The Christmas party was a few days ago, and now that all of her friends knew she was back, she could rest at ease knowing that any one of them could now reach her any time they needed her. She’d do the same for them that they did for her, after all.

She remembered falling asleep. She’d been laying on her side, facing Aigis who was sitting somewhere near the bed with a book in her hand, the other free hand tangled in Minako’s, fingers twined together tightly. This was not the apartment.

She was floating in white again. This time, though, her ears were ringing and she could hear herself whimpering. “Not here. Not again.”

“Why did you leave me?” Anything but that soft voice. No. Not Ryoji. He was standing before her, one hand on his chest, his eyes downcast. “You left me, why did you leave? I thought we were okay here… I protected you.”

“That wasn’t protection, Ryoji, please, let me go!”

“I can’t. We need you.”

“We?”

A mass of shadows began to creep up around Ryoji, his once beautiful blue eyes going dark. “We need you. Stay with us.”

Those three words repeated, menacingly, the voice getting deeper and deeper, rumbling as time went on. “Stay with us. Stay with us…” Suddenly, she was swallowed by blackness.

As if on cue, she bolted upright, shaking, sweating, screaming for the mass of shadows to get away, to get off of her. There were hands grabbing at her arms and it only put her further into her state of alarm. “No, no!”

“Minako, calm down, it was just a dream!”

At Aigis’ voice, she finally snapped back into reality, breathing in sharply, tears building in her eyes. Aigis’ hand on her back became an anchoring point, the only thing she could feel for the first few raw, numb, terrifying moments. “A dream…?” She looked around her. She was in the apartment, in the plush bed she’d merely fallen asleep in, a gateway to the awful nightmares that most likely would plague her for a long time. Minako sat there, shaking, until Aigis climbed atop the sheets beside her, offering her arm out. Minako, as though only seeking solace from her embrace, buried her forehead into Aigis’ shoulder until relaxed enough to fall asleep again.


End file.
